Lucas scrubbed at the damp spot on the carpet. Why was it the puppy could hold her bladder all night at Jenny’s, but at the apartment, the pup seemed to make a mess every ninety minutes if he didn’t catch her?

Omen pawed at the patio door.

He took a deep breath and sat back on his heels. The problem wasn’t the dog, it was him. He’d woken up crabby, and it was carrying over into his routine. He missed sleeping next to a warm body and having Jenny there to talk to.

She was shutting him out, not even responding to his texts.

There’d been only one text last night, and that was from Carly, of all people. She’d warned him things with Autumn had not gone well, which was both not a surprise and a surprise. He didn’t know Autumn or why she’d have an issue with him, but he seemed to have made progress with Carly. At least he’d only get the hate from one person at the shop.

“Okay, ankle biter, what am I going to do with you?” He pushed to his feet and crossed to the patio.

Leaving Omen loose in the apartment was not an option. Without Dolly to entertain her, Omen would shred what few belongings he had. Crating her all day felt cruel. The only option left was to take Omen and her crate to the shop.

Now, did he ask permission or beg forgiveness?

Mary had given him some side-eye the first day, so he’d avoided bringing Omen in with him again, but today he had no other alternatives. Hell, maybe the puppy would soothe hurt feelings all around.

Lucas left Omen on the patio while he bagged her things and hauled her crate to his Jeep. She wasn’t likely to enjoy her daytime accommodations, but until Jenny was talking to him again, he didn’t want to presume that she’d keep both dogs entertained. Besides, she had that dog show, so it wasn’t like Dolly was going to be with her, either. Last she’d said, her full-time and part-time employees were joining her there and closing the shop for the weekend.

Speaking of, what was she going to do with Dolly?

He’d been wary of the beat-up dog in the beginning, but she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. When even the most docile dog might growl or snap out of fear, Dolly hunched down and whined. She’d rather take a beating than hurt a fly.

Maybe he should offer to swing by Jenny’s place halfway through the day to check on Dolly? Unless Jenny had other options he didn’t know about. She had a whole life he wasn’t part of, and that sucked.

There wasn’t anything to be done about it. Either Jenny wanted to include him, or not. That was her choice, regardless of his feelings.

He scooped Omen up and secured her for the drive to work.

The nice thing about the apartment was that it wasn’t a long drive.

He pulled up behind the strip of shops, surprised to see Jenny’s truck out back.

The prospect of seeing her again sent a little thrill down his spine. If he could just talk to her, they could sort out whatever weirdness was going on, right? Except that she was actively avoiding him. Which left him with the options of waiting her out or making her talk. He didn’t like either. This whole avoidance game was damn irritating, especially when it felt like they’d been so close. When nothing was a secret between them.

Omen whined from the back and pawed at her cage.

“I hear you, squirt.” He turned the Jeep off and got out.

Jenny needed time, so he’d give it to her, as much as he disliked this game.

He hauled Omen and her things out of the back of the Jeep, carrying it all in at once. It was early enough he’d expected to be the first one there, but the lights and music were all ready on. The hard rock song blaring in the background wasn’t Mary, and Pandora was sensitive enough at this stage of her pregnancy that the noise level ruled her out. That meant—

“Look who crawled back home.” A woman in shorts and a loose tank-top stepped into sight. Her multi-colored, streaked hair was done up in an artful bun. He couldn’t make out her features, what with the backlighting casting her face into shadow, but he could at least rule out the others he’d meet so far.

“You must be Autumn.” He set Omen’s crate just inside the office door and the bag on top. Hands free, he approached the woman.

“Don’t you come one God damn step closer.” Autumn took a step back.

“I’m sorry... Have we met before?”

“You probably don’t recognize me with my clothes on.”

“Wow.” Lucas held his hands up. Even when he’d been single he’d made a habit of not taking a girl home the night they’d met. That was how a guy wound up with a crazy on his hands.

“I know all about you and Walker.” Autumn took two steps, jabbing her finger at him.

“I don’t know what you think you know—”

“I know you left the club a half hour before Walker got arrested.”

“No.” Lucas shook his head. He’d been halfway across the country by then. Then why was he sweating? Why was his stomach in knots?

“I saw you there.”

“No way.” He swallowed, tasting bile on the back of his throat. He had to stay calm, reason his way through this conversation.

“What? You’re going to deny that you went to that club?”

“I’m assuming you’re talking about Magic City. What male over eighteen didn’t go to Magic City? Yes, I’ve been there, but the night Walker—”

“You brought him there. You are the reason that woman,” Autumn pointed at Jenny’s shop, “got her heart broken and was alienated from everyone she loved.”

It was Lucas’ turn to take a step back.

Fuck.

No.

He’d thought...

Jenny didn’t know.

Lucas had assumed he was in the clear, that his secret was safe.

But Autumn knew.

He swallowed again and stared at the young woman glaring at him with hate in her eyes. Was he guilty of taking his cousin to a strip club? Yes. It ate at him. If he’d never taken Walker to that club, would things have turned out differently? Maybe. He could argue that Walker wanted to go all he liked, but Lucas had still been complicit. He’d driven them there half a dozen times and watched Walker make a fool of himself. Lucas hadn’t made Walker do the rest. He hadn’t even been present for that, but did it absolve him of his guilt?

“If you think you know so much, why haven’t you told her? What’s stopping you from telling the whole world what a piece of shit I am?”

“Because, unlike you, I don’t want to hurt the people I love.” Autumn straightened. “They need to know the truth. Who they’re really working with. If you don’t tell them, I will.”

Lucas swallowed down his knee jerk Fuck you, and considered the situation.

He wasn’t one to judge, but Autumn’s figure was by no means natural. Women didn’t often frequent Magic City unless they worked there, and a girl with Autumn’s looks would make a lot more money dancing than serving drinks. If he had to guess, she’d had a run-in with Walker while Lucas had been present, and he simply didn’t remember her. He’d never gotten into the titty show like other guys. The whole concept of lining up a bar to get an erection with a bunch of his guy friends was weird to him. Walker had enjoyed it a hell of a lot more, and there’d been a few times when Walker had gone over the line.

“Look—”

The back door opened, cutting Lucas off. He turned in time to see Mary heft a bag in one hand and wrestle the door with the other.

“Let me get that for you.” Lucas darted back and flattened his palm against the door.

Autumn and Mary locked eyes and the room grew frosty, despite the Texas heat baking the building.

“There’s more in my trunk, if you can lend a hand?” Mary pitched her voice low.

Trying to get a moment alone with Autumn?

He wasn’t sure he wanted to bow out of that conversation. Then again, he wasn’t sure if he could face it right now, either.

“Sure thing,” he muttered and ducked out to the back.

The door clanged shut behind him. He shoved a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

He’d been jealous and stupid. That was his pitiful excuse for taking Walker to Magic City that first time. Walker had hurt Jenny so badly she’d cried again and again on Lucas’ shoulder. She wouldn’t listen to reason and he couldn’t carefully encourage her to stop caring about her husband. So, he’d done what he could to put Walker on a path to self destruction. After all, Jenny was human and she would only take so much before she snapped and dumped his ass, right? It was just a strip club.

Christ.

If he’d picked any other club, none of this would have happened.

When—not if—Jenny found out, she’d never speak to him again. Something was driving them apart all ready and he couldn’t fix it. This would just give her more reason to cut him out entirely.

He’d only been thinking of her.

Lucas braced his hands on the trunk of Mary’s classic car and stared at the bags.

He loved Jenny. Always had. He just had a piss-poor way of showing it. What he should have done was try to help her and Walker make it, not be a selfish ass and break them up so he could have her all to himself. They were fucked from the start, and now there were so many regrets he couldn’t take back, he couldn’t change, and no amount of apologizing about it would fix it.

A pickup truck pulled up next to him, Jenny in the driver’s seat.

Well, fuck.

He couldn’t go inside and he couldn’t stay here.

Maybe coming back to Texas was a huge mistake. He could leave again and not be out too much. His shop back in Cali would welcome him home, and he could pick up where he’d left off there.

He grabbed the bags, choosing to face down Mary and Autumn over Jenny. The office door was shut, so he deposited the things on the empty station counter, then went back for more.

If Jenny didn’t want to see him she could hustle inside and they wouldn’t have to speak. It hurt to think that they’d gone from reaching for each other in the dead of night to not talking, but at least he’d been able to be with her, even if it was just for a moment. Very soon she wouldn’t want him around, because the way he saw it, there was no way to keep Autumn from telling her version of the truth.

g

Jenny slid out of the truck.

A huge part of her screamed to run into the shop and close the door. The rest of her would have none of that stupid behavior. Because not talking to Lucas was just that.

Stupid.

Last night, she’d lain awake thinking about it for ages and come up with a few things. Things she and Lucas needed to talk about, because otherwise she’d keep running from him. She didn’t want to do that. He was part of some of the happiest periods of her life.

The back door of So Inked opened and Lucas stepped out. He paused, staring at her.

Jenny swallowed.

He’d texted her again, kind, concerned things. He had every right to be frustrated, if not angry, with her. Instead of acting like an adult, she’d ducked and run.

She took a deep breath and circled to the back of Mary’s car. Her feet wouldn’t take her farther, so she stopped.

Lucas came to her, his steps slow, as though he were dealing with a skittish animal. And maybe he was. Lord knew she was having flighty feelings.

“Hey, how’s the show going?” His tone was light, breezy, but his expression hard. He was trying, and she appreciated that so much.

“Hey.” Jenny braced her hand against the tail fin of the car. “Can we...talk?”

“Sure.” He mirrored her pose, keeping a good four feet of space between them.

Good.

She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t collapse into a puddle of goo if he came closer.

“I am...overwhelmed? Yeah, I think that’s a good word for it.” Her stomach knotted up and her hands shook a little.

“Jenny—”

“We went from nothing to...complicated, super fast. I know I told you I wanted serious and commitment and... I don’t want to stop, I just... Sometimes I feel like I forget who I am. Who I’ve tried to become. And, if we keep on the way we are, I’m going to lose sight of everything I thought I wanted to be.” Her throat tightened with every sentence until her voice was a squeak, her words barely audible.

“Jenny, sh. It’s okay.” Lucas edged closer, and closer.

She couldn’t make herself go to him and she couldn’t run away. She was stuck, which was one of her greatest fears. Only this time he was the one helping her un-stick herself.

Lucas gently folded his arms around her and she leaned into him, taking comfort in his embrace. He’d always represented safety to her, so what’d changed? It had to have been her.

“You’re right, we jumped in the deep end. Slowing down is probably the best thing to do. It’s not like we’re the same people we used to be.” He leaned back and stared at her, his face lined with worry. “I just don’t want to lose you. I like us talking. Hanging out. I don’t want to lose that.”

“Me, too. Neither. Whatever.”

“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry? It’ll be okay.”

She buried her face against his chest and breathed deep, inhaling the smell of soap and man.

He was right. Her fears, the uncertainty, it was all in her head. If she’d just opened her mouth and talked to him, like she’d always been able to do, they’d get through it. Lucas wasn’t Walker. That was the thing that kept tripping her up. She had so many trigger points and self-taught reactions from their years together, and Lucas was paying for it.

Lucas pressed his mouth to the top of her head. She tipped her chin up and rose up on her toes, kissing him back. It felt right and good.

Her phone vibrated, reminding her that she had a very narrow window of time to grab everything they needed and get back.

“I have to go.” She sank back to her heels and sighed. “Can we promise to talk later? Like, real-talk talk?”

“As opposed to fake talk?”

“You know what I mean.” She rolled her eyes.

“I do.” He smiled. “Can I take you out later, then? Maybe we can go somewhere nice and just talk things through?”

“I’d like that. It would have to be later so I can shower.”

“It’s Saturday, so I’ll be here ‘til eleven.”

“Yikes. Maybe we rain check the nice dinner out and do breakfast tomorrow?”

“We’ll figure it out.” He smiled and the world seemed a little more right side up.

A conversation like this would have gone differently with her ex.

From here on out she had to stop comparing the two men. It wasn’t fair that Lucas should have to bear the burden of Walker’s mistakes, and it was past time that Jenny let go of the past.

“Thank you, Lucas.”

“Any time.”

She backed up and he watched her go.

The tension was gone from his shoulders and the warm way he stared at her promised smiles and laughs, not tears. This could work. They’d talk. They’d sort it out. Maybe slow down. She wasn’t ready for I love yous and moving in together, but she did want to be part of his life.

Jenny’s phone vibrated again. She ducked into the shop, feeling lighter than she had in days.

She pulled out her phone, frowning at the unknown number. She’d leave the message for later.

Now to get her things...

A knock at the front door brought her up short.

Jenny cringed and considered hiding in the back. She didn’t want to turn away business, but the sign on the door clearly stated that they were closed for a special weekend.

Another knock that shook the front door.

Jenny leaned past the wall that divided the shop into three separate spaces.

Autumn stood at the front, hands cupped around her eyes, staring in.

Oh, dear.

Jenny did not want to get dragged into whatever was going on at So Inked, but here she was. She plodded toward the door and unlocked it, wary of her visitor.

“Hey, Jenny. How are you? Sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat last night.”

“It’s okay. A lot was going on. Come back here while I get my stuff together?”

“Jenny... How well do you know Lucas?” Autumn asked slowly.

“He’s my ex-husband’s cousin. I know him pretty well.” Jenny took a deep breath. Better to get this out there and in the open. “We’re kind of sort of dating now.”

“Oh.”

Jenny glanced at Autumn, her eyes round and mouth hanging open.

“What’s wrong, Autumn?” Jenny sidestepped, the better to see Autumn’s face. With the light streaming in, the shadows made it hard to tell exactly what she was thinking.

“I...just... Wow.”

The front door chimed, signaling a new person. Jenny cringed and glanced at the newcomer.

Her gaze locked with the dark gaze of her ex-husband.

“Walker?”

“Hi, Jenny.” He smiled and it actually touched his eyes.

Both Jenny and Autumn gaped at him.

She hadn’t set eyes on Walker since the day he’d been sentenced to prison. After that day, Jenny had promised herself a different future. A better one. But she’d had to go through some dark times to get where she was now. All because of this man.

“You!” Autumn wheeled on the man, jabbing her finger against his shoulder.

Walker frowned at Autumn, but he didn’t curse at her or bat her hand away. There was no outburst on his side, but his stare was not quite friendly.

“Are you...?” Walker tilted his head to the side, and there he was. The glimpse of the man Jenny recognized.

“You can’t be here, Walker.” Jenny’s restraining order wouldn’t allow it. But it was just a piece of paper.

“Am I—who?”

“You’re that hooker. You’re the one!” His eyes went wide and he took a step back.

“Hooker? Oh, hell no.” Autumn followed him, her pointer finger prodding him again. “I was the underage girl you asked to bounce on your knee. You used to shove twenty dollar bills between my boobs. You and that cousin of yours, Lucas.”

Jenny flinched.

She had to get out of here. Away from Walker.

Jenny turned and walked out through the back, her mind silent.

Walker’s alcoholic tendencies were the root of many of their problems. When he’d begun going to the strip clubs, she’d hated it, but at least she’d known where he was. It was the underage girls that got Walker in trouble. He’d tried to plead in court that he didn’t know, but the recordings of him were crystal clear. On several occasions, he’d gone to that club and gone to the behind-the-curtain area where, for the right price, a guy could get whatever he wanted. Including teenage girls.

She stepped out into the sunshine and sucked down a deep breath, tears stinging her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas called out.

He’d been part of it. All along. Autumn remembered Lucas. That was why she’d freaked out last night after learning they’d hired him. Autumn’s past was a closely-guarded secret, but she’d told Jenny enough. She knew what Autumn had endured, what she’d gone through.

“Jenny?”

The gravel crunched under his feet, the sound getting louder

She blinked back the tears.

“No,” she snapped. “You knew. You were part of it, and you never told me.”

“Did you talk to Autumn?”

Guilt suffused his every word.

“Stay away from me. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you.” She strode to her truck and got inside not a moment too soon.

She’d wasted a good fifteen years of her life with Walker, and she wasn’t going to make that same mistake with Lucas. The Hewitts were all alike. They couldn’t be trusted and she couldn’t allow herself to fall in love with another one.

•  •